For many years, I worked as a Program Coordinator and Family Caregiving Consultant at the Alzheimer's Association and Del Mar Caregiver Resource Center. During that time I wrote a monthly newsletter for families taking care of loved ones with progressive incurable memory loss and dementia. Those articles are now a book, and this blog was created to share it (and any new articles I write) with all of you.

Monday, May 2, 2011

A Facebook friend, Gary W. Bourbonais, wrote this as a service in honor of this month being Stroke Awareness Month. He says "it's worth it if it saves just one life."

Hi Folks....

Back on 12/27/07, I had a clot type stroke in the cortico-spinal area of my brain....I was left with a paralyzed right side, a vague awareness of what was going on, and a face out of a B-rated Horror
Movie.... Because of the extent of the paralysis, I was told I faced the prospect of assisted living...

That scared me more than anything....

Today, I am existing independently, though I need a brace and cane to get around.....My right hand (the prior dominant one) has maybe 20% function, with no fine motor control to speak of...Everything is
harder to do, essentially one handed, and I do get tired easily....

I'm not griping....I'm glad to be alive, and an independent Survivor....My cognition was essentially unaffected....My face is normal, as is my speech....I'm one of the luckier survivors.....

The thing is....had I recognized what was happening to me, I might have none of these affects.... For a clot type stroke, there's a 3-4 hour window when it can be reversed.....I got to the hospital too late to reverse it, but soon enough so I lived...

How common is stroke? It's the third most common cause of death in the US.....Eighty percent of all strokes are the clot type....There are over *6 million* stroke survivors in the US alone....

How to ID a stroke.......S....T....R.......

*REMEMBER* the 1st Three Letters.... S...T...R...

S.....Ask the individual to SMILE.

T.....Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(Coherently). Example....It is sunny outside today....

R.....Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If the person (or you), have a problem with any of these tasks, it's time to call 911...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

They've recently extended the window to 4 hours in some cases...

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

Hopefully this bit of knowledge will help some folks in the future.......

Surviving a stroke takes a lot out of a person, both physically and mentally.....

How successful one is depends a lot on the support they have, and believe me, I can personally attest to the need for that support...And thank the folks that provided it to me, from the bottom of my heart...

I found a great online resource for Stroke Support.....It's a free site, started, run by, and for, Stroke Survivors and Caregivers....If you are a Stroke Survivor, or Caregiver, or know someone who is, give
them this link..... http://www.strokeboard.net/

I suspect they'll thank you....It puts you on the Forum discussion page, and you will meet folks who are walking the talk......As a guest, you can read the posts, to get a feel for what the site is about....

Another Anagram is F.A.S.T (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) If they have trouble smiling or something is not "right" with their *Face* (F), if they are unable to hold their *Arms*(A) out in front of themselves at equal height, if their *Speech*(S) is affected or if the words come out Slurred(S), then you need *Time*(T) to be on your side by responding quickly. Don't hesitate. It's better to be wrong than sorry.